Contents

The Italians decided to launch an offensive because the Strafexpedition of the previous year had improved the Austrian defensive positions, whence the Italian armies of Cadore, Carnia and the Isonzo could be threatened.

The battle was prepared with considerable means (300,000 men with 1,600 artillery guns) concentrated on a short segment of the front just a few kilometers long. However, although the Italians enjoyed a 3-to-1 numeric superiority in both men and guns, as they faced 100,000 Austro-Hungarians with 500 guns, the attack still presented several problems:

The Austrian positions were very strong.

The arc formed by the opposing lines was such as to favor the Austrian artillery.

The Italian lines were overcrowded, which made it difficult to maneuver.

The attack began on 10 June and after fierce and bloody fightings the Italian 52nd Alpine Division managed to capture the top of Mount Ortigara.

The Austro-Hungarian command promptly sent many trained reinforcements. On 25 June, the 11 Italian battalions guarding the summit were attacked by Austrian shock troops which retook it, the strenuous Italian resistance notwithstanding.

The 52nd Division alone suffered about half the Italian casualties. General Ettore Mambretti, commander of the Sixth Army, was considered responsible for the heavy casualties and removed from command.

A letter from a young soldier, written on the eve of the battle, is part of the museum of the Asiago War Memorial.[2] Adolfo Ferrero wrote this letter to his family shortly before dying in combat, and the letter was later discovered in the personal effects of his page, whose body was exhumed from Mount Ortigara in the 1950s.[2][3]

1.
Italian Front (World War I)
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The Italian Front was a series of battles at the border between Austria-Hungary and Italy, fought between 1915 and 1918 in World War I. Fighting along the front displaced much of the population, of which several thousand died from malnutrition. The Allied victory at Vittorio Veneto and the disintegration of Austria-Hungary ended the military operations, moreover, Austria-Hungary omitted to consult Italy before sending the ultimatum to Serbia and refused to discuss compensation due according to the art. By the 1910s, the expansionist ideas of this movement were taken up by a significant part of the Italian political elite. The annexation of those Austrian territories that were inhabited by Italians, became the main Italian war goal, however, of around 1.5 million people living in those areas, 45% were Italian speakers, while the rest were Slovenes, Germans and Croats. In northern Dalmatia, which was also among the Italian war aims, on 23 May, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. Italys entry was engineered in secret by the 1915 Treaty of London, set up between the British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey, the Italian Foreign Minister Sidney Sonnino and the French Foreign Minister Jules Cambon. On February 16,1915, despite concurrent negotiations with Austria, the final choice was aided by the arrival of news in March of Russian victories in the Carpathians. The Treaty of London was concluded on April 26 binding Italy to fight within one month, not until May 4 did Salandra denounce the Triple Alliance in a private note to its signatories. During the Italo-Turkish War in Libya, the Italian military suffered equipment, at the opening of the campaign, Austro-Hungarian troops occupied and fortified high ground of the Julian Alps and Karst Plateau, but the Italians initially outnumbered their opponents three-to-one. An Italian offensive aimed to cross the Soča river, take the fortress town of Gorizia. This offensive opened the first Battles of the Isonzo, because the Austrian forces occupied higher ground, Italians conducted difficult offensives while climbing. The Italian forces therefore failed to drive much beyond the river, despite a professional officer corps, severely under-trained Italian units lacked morale. Also many troops deeply disliked the newly appointed Italian commander, general Luigi Cadorna, moreover, preexisting equipment and munition shortages slowed progress and frustrated all expectations for a Napoleonic style breakout. Like most contemporaneous militaries, the Italian army primarily used horses for transport but struggled, the Italians recuperated, rearmed with 1200 heavy guns, and then on 18 October 1915 launched Third Battle of the Isonzo, another attack. Forces of Austria-Hungary again repulsed this Italian offensive, which concluded on 4 November without resulting gains, the Italians again launched another offensive on 10 November, the Fourth Battle of the Isonzo. Italian Armies in the North East of the country, the offensive began on 11 March 1916 with 15 divisions, and resulted in no gain. Later in 1916, four more battles along the Isonzo river erupted, the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, launched by the Italians in August, resulted in a success greater than the previous attacks

2.
First World War
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany

3.
Trentino
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Trentino, officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the countrys far north. Trentino is, along with South Tyrol, one of the two provinces making up the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which is designated a region under the constitution. The province is divided into 178 comuni and its capital is the city of Trento. The province covers an area of more than 6,000 km2, Trentino is renowned for its mountains, such as the Dolomites, which are part of the Alps. The province is known as Trentino. The name derives from Trento, the city of the province. Originally, the term was used by the population only to refer to the city. In its wider sense, Trentino was first used around 1848 in an article by a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly, since the new 1972 autonomous status, the administrative name of the province is Autonomous Province of Trento. The history of Trentino begins in the mid-Stone Age, the valleys of what is now Trentino were already inhabited by man, the main settlements being in the valley of the Adige River, thanks to its milder climate. In the early Middle Ages, this area was included within the Kingdom of Italy, in 1027, the Bishopric of Trent was established as a State of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Conrad II. It was a territory, roughly corresponding to the present-day Trentino. The Council of Trent, held in three sessions from 1545 to 1563, with the first at Trento, was one of the important councils in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. It was an articulation of Roman Catholic doctrine in response to the Protestant Reformation, and specified doctrine on salvation, the sacraments, after the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, the bishopric was secularized and absorbed into the Austrian County of Tyrol. It was governed by the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, the region was the location of heavy fighting during World War I, as it was directly on the front lines between Austria-Hungary and Italy. Trentino remained a part of Austria-Hungary until after the end of the war in 1919, since this treaty, Trentino enjoys considerable autonomy from the Italian central government in Rome. It has its own elected government and legislative assembly, in 1996, the Euroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino was formed between the Austrian state of Tyrol and the Italian provinces of South Tyrol and Trentino. The boundaries of the association correspond to the old County of Tyrol, the aim is to promote regional peace, understanding and cooperation in many areas. The regions assemblies meet together as one on various occasions and have set up a liaison office to the European Union in Brussels

4.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world

5.
Kingdom of Italy
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The state was founded as a result of the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered its legal predecessor state. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia in 1866, Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power. Italy entered into a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882, victory in the war gave Italy a permanent seat in the Council of the League of Nations. Fascist Italy is the era of National Fascist Party rule from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as head of government, according to Payne, Fascist regime passed through several relatively distinct phases. The first phase was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, then came the second phase, the construction of the Fascist dictatorship proper from 1925 to 1929. The third phase, with activism, was 1929–34. The war itself was the phase with its disasters and defeats. Italy was allied with Nazi Germany in World War II until 1943 and it switched sides to the Allies after ousting Mussolini and shutting down the Fascist party in areas controlled by the Allied invaders. Shortly after the war, civil discontent led to the referendum of 1946 on whether Italy would remain a monarchy or become a republic. Italians decided to abandon the monarchy and form the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of Italy claimed all of the territory which is modern-day Italy. The development of the Kingdoms territory progressed under Italian re-unification until 1870, the state for a long period of time did not include Trieste or Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which are in Italy today, and only annexed them in 1919. After the Second World War, the borders of present-day Italy were founded, the Kingdom of Italy was theoretically a constitutional monarchy. Executive power belonged to the monarch, as executed through appointed ministers, two chambers of parliament restricted the monarchs power—an appointive Senate and an elective Chamber of Deputies. The kingdoms constitution was the Statuto Albertino, the governing document of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In theory, ministers were responsible to the king. However, in practice, it was impossible for an Italian government to stay in office without the support of Parliament, members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected by plurality voting system elections in uninominal districts. A candidate needed the support of 50% of those voting, and of 25% of all enrolled voters, if not all seats were filled on the first ballot, a runoff was held shortly afterwards for the remaining vacancies. After a brief multinominal experimentation in 1882, proportional representation into large, regional, Socialists became the major party, but they were unable to form a government in a parliament split into three different factions, with Christian Populists and classical liberals

6.
Austria-Hungary
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The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867. Austria-Hungary consisted of two monarchies, and one region, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown. It was ruled by the House of Habsburg, and constituted the last phase in the evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and the Hungarian states were co-equal, Foreign affairs and the military came under joint oversight, but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states. Austria-Hungary was a state and one of the worlds great powers at the time. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at 621,538 km2, the Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world, after the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. After 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Austro-Hungarian military and civilian rule until it was annexed in 1908. The annexation of Bosnia also led to Islam being recognized as a state religion due to Bosnias Muslim population. Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I and it was already effectively dissolved by the time the military authorities signed the armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918. The realms full, official name was The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council, each enjoyed considerable sovereignty with only a few joint affairs. Certain regions, such as Polish Galicia within Cisleithania and Croatia within Transleithania, enjoyed autonomous status, the division between Austria and Hungary was so marked that there was no common citizenship, one was either an Austrian citizen or a Hungarian citizen, never both. This also meant that there were always separate Austrian and Hungarian passports, however, neither Austrian nor Hungarian passports were used in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia. Instead, the Kingdom issued its own passports which were written in Croatian and French and it is not known what kind of passports were used in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of both Austria and Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary had always maintained a separate parliament, the Diet of Hungary, the administration and government of the Kingdom of Hungary remained largely untouched by the government structure of the overarching Austrian Empire. Hungarys central government structures remained well separated from the Austrian imperial government, the country was governed by the Council of Lieutenancy of Hungary – located in Pressburg and later in Pest – and by the Hungarian Royal Court Chancellery in Vienna. The Hungarian government and Hungarian parliament were suspended after the Hungarian revolution of 1848, despite Austria and Hungary sharing a common currency, they were fiscally sovereign and independent entities. Since the beginnings of the union, the government of the Kingdom of Hungary could preserve its separated. After the revolution of 1848–1849, the Hungarian budget was amalgamated with the Austrian, from 1527 to 1851, the Kingdom of Hungary maintained its own customs controls, which separated her from the other parts of the Habsburg-ruled territories

7.
Luigi Cadorna
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Marshal of Italy Luigi Cadorna, OSML, OMS, OCI was an Italian General and Marshal of Italy, most famous for being the Chief of Staff of the Italian Army during the first part of World War I. Luigi Cadorna was born to General Raffaele Cadorna in Verbania Pallanza, in 1860 Cardona became a student at the Teuliè Military School in Milan. At fifteen he entered the Turin Military Academy, upon graduation he was commissioned as a second lieutenant of artillery in 1868. In 1870, as an officer in the 2nd Regiment of Artillery, as major he was appointed to the staff of General Pianell, afterwards taking the post of Chief of Staff of the Verona Divisional Command. As Colonel commanding the 10th Regiment of Bersaglieri from 1892 Cadorna acquired a reputation for strict discipline and he wrote a manual of infantry tactics which laid stress on the doctrine of the offensive. Promoted to lieutenant general in 1898 Cadorna subsequently held a number of senior staff, on the eve of Italys entry into World War he was close to peace-time retirement age and had a history of differences with his political and military superiors. Cadorna had been offered the post of Chief of Staff for the first time in 1908 and he was again offered the position in July 1914, as the Triple Entente and Central Powers girded for war. When Italy entered the war in May 1915 on the side of the Entente, Cadorna fielded thirty-six infantry divisions composed of 875,000 men, Cadorna inherited a difficult political and military situation. The government of Premier Antonio Salandra favored initial neutrality over Italys treaty commitments under the Triple Alliance, Cadorna was accordingly obliged to reverse long established strategic plans while discovering that the army was ill-prepared for war against Austria-Hungary and Germany. In particular large numbers of men and quantities of equipment had been deployed to Tripolitania leaving the home army disorganized, Cadorna launched four offensives in 1915, all along the Isonzo River. The goal of these offensives was the fortress of Gorizia, the capture of which would permit the Italian armies to pivot south and march on Trieste, all four offensives failed, resulting in some 250,000 Italian casualties for little material gain. Cadorna would ultimately fight eleven battles on the Isonzo between 1915 and 1917, additional forces were arrayed along the Trentino salient, attacking treaty commitments as towards Rovereto, Trento, and Bolzano. The terrain along the Isonzo and Trentino was completely unsuited for offensive warfare–mountainous and broken, on 24 October 1917 a combined Austro-Hungarian/German army struck across the Soča at Kobarid and by 12 November had advanced all the way to the Piave River. Cadorna himself had been on leave for most of October and his subordinate was seriously ill. The Italian Army fled in disarray and seemed on the verge of collapse,275,000 soldiers surrendered. Italys allies Britain and France sent eleven divisions to reinforce the Italian front, the General was relieved of command on 9 November 1917. The new Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando appointed the respected General Armando Diaz as Chief of General Staff, Cadorna was reassigned as the Italian representative to the Allied Supreme War Council set up in Versailles. The Italian forces thereafter rallied behind the Piave and Monte Grappa and, with the help of the Allied divisions, after the war, there was an enquiry held by the Italian government to investigate the defeat at Caporetto

8.
Arthur Arz von Straussenburg
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Generaloberst Arthur Freiherr Arz von Straußenburg was an Austro-Hungarian Colonel General and last Chief of the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army. At the outbreak of the First World War, he commanded the 15th Infantry Division, soon, he was promoted to the head of the 6th Corps and the First Army. He participated on the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive in 1915 and the countryside of Romania in 1916, in March 1917, he became Chief of the General Staff until his resignation on 3 November 1918. Born among the ancient Saxon settlers of east Transylvania, Arz was the product of a noble Siebenbürger family and his father, Albert Arz von Straußenburg, served as an evangelical preacher and curate as well as a member of the House of Magnates. Having successfully completed a military service, Arz sat and passed the reserve officers examination and went on to apply for. In 1878, he was commissioned with the rank Leutnant, attaining the rank of Oberleutnant, Arz attended the Imperial Kriegschule in Vienna, 1885–1887, where he again distinguished himself, and in 1888 he was appointed to the General Staff. Promoted next to the rank of Major, then Oberstleutnant, Arz was attached to the 2nd Corps, then commanded by Archduke Eugen, following his assignment to the General Staff. On 1 May 1902 he was promoted to Oberst and appointed to the bureau of the General Staff. The same year, he married Stefanie Tomka von Tomkahaza und Falkusfalva, in 1908, Arz was again promoted, this time to the rank of Generalmajor, and was given command of the 61st Infantry Brigade. Having been steadily promoted and seen as a promising and competent officer, he received an evaluation from his old commander, Archduke Eugen. 1912 saw him promoted to command a division, the 15th infantry at Miskolc, soon afterwards Arz attained the rank of Feldmarschall-Leutnant and in 1913 was reassigned to the war ministry in Vienna to head up a section. Almost immediately thereafter, on 7 September, Arz was given command of the 6th corps, taking over from Boroević, in charge of the 6th Corps, he performed outstandingly and with great energy at Limanowa-Lapanów, where his unit formed part of the 4th Army. At Gorlice-Tarnów he was again to pay a role and was in command again at Grodek-Magierow. In September 1915, he was promoted to the rank of General der Infanterie, with the threatened entry of Romania into the war on the Allied side, Arz was reassigned from the 6th Corps and appointed to command the newly reorganised 1st Army on 16 August 1916. Arriving at Klausenburg, where forces were being marshalled to repel an expected Romanian advance into Transylvania, indeed, on the Romanian declaration of war on 27 August, the 1st Army comprised a mere 10,000 men. A slow Romanian advance combined with hysterical outcry from Budapest led to the 1st Army being considerably and rapidly strengthened to drive back the challenge from the south. Romanian forces crossed the frontier on 28 August 1916 with six separate forces pushing through the six Carpathian passes to converge on Braşov, by 4 September they had succeeded in pushing nearly as far as Sepsiszentgyörgy in the Szekler territories. In order to fend off these six separate invasions, Arz, now fighting on his turf, ordered the 71st Infantry Division and 141st

9.
Viktor Graf von Scheuchenstuel
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Viktor Graf von Scheuchenstuel was a Colonel General in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He was a staff officer and division commander until World War I broke out. During World War I he was a Corps and Army commander serving in Serbia, Albania, during World War I he was promoted to Graf in the Austrian nobility. Following the end of World War I and the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Scheuchenstuel was born in Witkowitz, Moravia. In 1874 he attended Pioneer Cadet School in Hainburg in Austria and he served as a Lieutenant and Oberleutnant in the Pioneers until 1884 when he attended a military academy in Vienna. Following graduation in 1886 Scheuchenstuel joined the Austro-Hungarian General Staff, in 1903 he commanded the Austro-Hungarian L. Infantry Regiment. Following a promotion to Major General in 1907 he commanded the LXIX, mountain Brigade and the X. Infantry Division. In 1911 he was promoted to Field Marshal Lieutenant and in 1912 took over the IX, in August 1914 Field Marshal Lieutenant Scheuchenstuel commanded the Austrian IX. Infantry Division, which was part of General Arthur Giesl von Gieslingens VIII, around August 12 three Austrian Armies, including the VIII. Corps, attacked Serbia in what known as the First Invasion of Serbia. The Austrians were driven back by August 24, with over 50,000 men lost, on October 12,1914 Gieslingen was relieved of duty and Scheuchenstuel assumed command of the Austrian VIII. Corps joined General Potioreks V. Army in the invasion of Mačva in Northern Serbia, Scheuchenstuel advanced through Serbia reaching Belgrade, abandoned by Serbian Marshal Putnik, on December 1. Once Putnik resupplied, he counter-attacked and drove the Austrian army back, Corps was back across the Danube and out of Belgrade. Throughout most of 1915 Scheuchenstuel was involved in battles along the Serbian front, finally in October 1915, his VIII. Corps was included in Field Marshal von Macksensens Army for the Conquest of Serbia, the Central Powers Army under Mackensen was able to crush the Serbian Army, and by December 1915 the VIII. Corps was part of General Kövesshazas III, on January 25,1916 the Austro-Hungarian Army attacked Montenegro which quickly surrendered. The army then moved down into the Italian controlled Albania, which fell to the Austrians by the end of winter, the Serbian Army made a fighting retreat over the Albanian coastal mountains. Once they reached the coast, the Italian and French Navies evacuated the Serbian Army, by February 26,1916 nearly all of Albania was under Austrian control

10.
First Battle of the Isonzo
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The First Battle of the Isonzo was fought between the Armies of Italy and Austria-Hungary on the Italian Front in World War I, between 23 June and 7 July 1915. The aim of the Italian Army was to drive the Austrians away from its positions along the Soča. Although the Italians enjoyed a 2,1 numeric superiority, their offensive failed because the Italian commander, Luigi Cadorna, the Austrians had the advantage of fighting from uphill positions barricaded with barbed wire which were able to easily resist the Italian assault. The Italians had some early successes and they partially took Monte Nero, took Monte Colowrat, and captured the heights around Plezzo. However, they were unable to dislodge the Austro-Hungarian troops from the ground between Tolmino and the Isonzo, which would later form a launching off point for the Caporetto Offensive. The heaviest fighting occurred around Gorizia, in addition to the natural defenses of the river and mountains, bastions were created at Oslavia and Podgora. The fighting at Gorizia consisted of urban combat interspersed with artillery fire. Italian troops, such as the Italian Re and Casale Brigades, were able to advance as far as the suburbs and they made small footholds at Adgrado and Redipuglia on the Karst Plateau south of Gorizia but were unable to do much else. Roma,1923 Österreich-Ungarns letzter Krieg 1914-1918 Band II Verlag der Militärwissenschftlichen Mitteilungen Wien 1931-1933 Anton Graf Bossi-Fedrigotti, stocker Verlag, Graz 1977 http, //www. worldwar1. com/itafront/ison1915. htm Macdonald, John, and Željko Cimprič. Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign, The Italian Front, 1915-1918, barnsley, South Yorkshire, Pen & Sword Military,2011. ISBN9781848846715 OCLC774957786 Page, Thomas Nelson, Italy and the World War, new York, Charles Scribners Sons, Full Text Available Online. Schindler, John R. Isonzo, The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War, First Battle of the Isonzo,1915 at FirstWorldWar. com Battlefield Maps, Italian Front 11 battles at the Isonzo The Walks of Peace in the Soča Region Foundation. The Foundation preserves, restores and presents the historical and cultural heritage of the First World War in the area of the Isonzo Front for the study, tourist, the Kobarid Museum Društvo Soška Fronta Pro Hereditate - extensive site

11.
Second Battle of the Isonzo
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The Second Battle of the Isonzo was fought between the armies of the Kingdom of Italy and of Austria-Hungary in the Italian Front in World War I, between 18 July and 3 August 1915. The major role was assigned to the Duke of Savoys Third Army, the insufficiency of war material – from rifles, to artillery shells to shears to cut the barbed wire – nullified their numerical superiority caused by the recent arrival of 290,000 Italian soldiers. On the Karst Plateau took place a series of hand-to-hand fights involving the Italian Second and Third Armies. Bayonets, swords, knives, and various scrap metal and debris were all used in the terrifying melee, the Hungarian 20th division lost two-thirds of its effectives and was routed, partly because of the successive attacks and partly because of the unfavourable terrain. The Mount San Michele was briefly held by Italian forces, but a counterattack by Colonel Richter, commanding a group of elite regiments. In the northern section of the front, in the Julian Alps, the Italians managed to conquer Mount Batognica over Kobarid, the battle wore out on its own when both sides ran out of ammunition for both light arms and artillery. The total casualties during the three weeks were about 91,000 men, of which 43,000 Italians and 48,000 Austro-Hungarians, caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign, The Italian Front, 1915-1918. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, Pen & Sword Military,2011, ISBN9781848846715 OCLC774957786 Schindler, John R. Isonzo, The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War. The Foundation preserves, restores and presents the historical and cultural heritage of the First World War in the area of the Isonzo Front for the study, tourist, the Kobarid Museum Društvo Soška Fronta Pro Hereditate – extensive site

12.
Third Battle of the Isonzo
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The Third Battle of the Isonzo was fought from 18 October through 3 November 1915 between the armies of Italy and Austria-Hungary. The main objectives were to take the Austro-Hungarian bridgeheads at Bovec and Tolmin, cadornas tactic, of deploying his forces evenly along the entire Soča, proved indecisive. The Austro-Hungarians took advantage of the small areas of attack to concentrate their firepower on those areas. Thanks to the low profile held by Boroevićs forces, the Austrians were able to hold their positions with heavy casualties and this battle showed Boroevićs tactical brilliance despite the limited scope of the front. The lull in action lasted barely two weeks after which the Italian offensive started anew, caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign, The Italian Front, 1915-1918. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, Pen & Sword Military,2011, ISBN9781848846715 OCLC774957786 Schindler, John R. Isonzo, The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War. Bauer, E.1985, Der Lowe vom Isonzo, Feldmarschall Svetozar Boroević de Bojna, graz Boroević, S.1923, O vojni proti Italiji. Italiano,1916, Addestramento della fanteria al combattimento, tipografia del Senato Battlefield Maps, Italian Front 11 battles at the Isonzo The Walks of Peace in the Soča Region Foundation. The Foundation preserves, restores and presents the historical and cultural heritage of the First World War in the area of the Isonzo Front for the study, tourist, the Kobarid Museum Društvo Soška Fronta Pro Hereditate - extensive site

13.
Fourth Battle of the Isonzo
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The Fourth Battle of the Isonzo was fought between the armies of Kingdom of Italy and those of Austria-Hungary on the Italian Front in World War I, between November 10 and December 2,1915. In contrast to the other three Battles of the Isonzo, this lasted a short amount of time, and is sometimes considered a continuation of the previous offensive. Most of the clash concentrated in the direction of Gorizia and on the Kras Plateau, the 2nd Italian Army, aiming to Gorizia, was able to capture the hilly area around Oslavia and San Floriano del Collio overlooking the Soča and the town of Gorizia. The Third Army, covering the rest of the front up to the sea, launched a series of large, mount Sei Busi, already the scene of bitter fighting, was attacked five times by the Italian forces, always in vain. The intensity of the fighting increased until the end of November, in the first fifteen days of December, however, the fighting was reduced to small scale skirmishes as opposed to the massive frontal assaults that characterized the previous phases of the battle. An unsigned truce arrived together with the first great cold in the mountains of the Kras and this reason led the Germans to intervene on the Italian front but only starting from the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo. Battles of the Isonzo Scipio Slataper Macdonald, John, and Željko Cimprič, caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign, The Italian Front, 1915-1918. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, Pen & Sword Military,2011, ISBN9781848846715 OCLC774957786 Schindler, John R. Isonzo, The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War. FirstWorldWar. Com, The Battles of the Isonzo, 1915-17 Battlefield Maps, the Foundation preserves, restores and presents the historical and cultural heritage of the First World War in the area of the Isonzo Front for the study, tourist and educational purposes. The Kobarid Museum Društvo Soška Fronta Pro Hereditate - extensive site

14.
Fifth Battle of the Isonzo
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The Fifth Battle of the Isonzo was fought from March 9–15,1916 between the armies of the Kingdom of Italy and those of Austria-Hungary. The Italians, under pressure from the French commanders, had decided to launch another offensive on the Soča River. The attack was a result of the allied Chantilly Conference of December 1915, the attacks ordered by Cadorna for the 2nd and 3rd Italian armies as demonstrations against the enemy, proved to be less bloody than those previously. The battles were fought on the Karst plateau, with the objective of taking Gorizia, along certain parts of the front, especially around Gorizia, skirmishes continued between enemy platoons until March 30 and beyond, in a protracted struggle that produced no clear victor. With the Fifth Battle of the Isonzo over the Italians now had to plan another assault, Cadorna put his sixth offensive on the drawing board after hearing promises of resupply from Italys Allies. Isonzo, The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War, firstWorldWar. Com, The Battles of the Isonzo, 1915–17 Battlefield Maps, Italian Front 11 battles at the Isonzo The Walks of Peace in the Soča Region Foundation. The Foundation preserves, restores and presents the historical and cultural heritage of the First World War in the area of the Isonzo Front for the study, tourist, the Kobarid Museum Društvo Soška Fronta Pro Hereditate – extensive site

15.
Battle of Asiago
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It was an unexpected attack that took place near Asiago in the province of Vicenza after the Fifth Battle of the Isonzo. Commemorating this battle and the killed in World War I is the Asiago War Memorial. His request was denied because Germany was not yet at war with Italy, the 11th Austro-Hungarian Army, under the command of Count Viktor Dankl, would carry out the offensive followed by the 3rd Army under Hermann Kövess. It was not so easy, however, because the Italians had deployed in the area about 250,000 troops, on May 15,1916,2,000 Austrian artillery guns opened a heavy barrage against the Italian lines, setting Trentino afire. The Austrian infantry attacked along a 50 km front, the Italian wings stood their ground, but the center yielded, and the Austrians broke through, reaching the beginning of the Venetian plain. With Vicenza about 30 km away, all the Italian forces on the Isonzo faced outflanking, cadorna hastily sent reinforcements to the First Army, and deployed the newly formed Fifth Army under Pietro Frugoni to engage the enemy in case they succeeded in entering the plain. However, on June 4, the Russians unexpectedly took the initiative in Galicia, although they were effectively countered by German and Austro-Hungarian troops, Hötzendorf was forced quickly to withdraw half of his divisions from Trentino. With that, the Strafexpedition could no longer be sustained and the Austrians retired from many of their positions, Italian troops in the region were increased to 400,000 to counter the Austrian positions. Although the Strafexpedition had been checked, it had consequences in Italy, the Salandra Cabinet fell

16.
Ninth Battle of the Isonzo
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The Ninth Battle of the Isonzo was an Italian offensive against Austria-Hungary in the course World War I. The battle started with an attack on Vrtojba and the northern, with the ninth battle fought from 1–4 November 1916 the combined casualty total from the three linked battles proved sufficiently heavy to ensure that each attack was of short duration. The Italians suffered 75,000 casualties and the Austro-Hungarians 63,000, as always along the Soča, the Austro-Hungarian Armys command of the mountainous terrain provided a formidable natural barrier to the Italians attempts to achieve a breakthrough. Cadorna had intended to ensure such a breakthrough in the wake of the capture of Gorizia during the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, neither side could particularly afford the casualties suffered but the Austro-Hungarians in particular were finding their defensive lines increasingly stretched. Realising this they continued to call upon their German ally to provide military assistance within the sector, when the Germans finally assented and constructed a combined force in time for the Twelfth Battle of Isonzo, the results were dramatic. Operations renewed afresh with the Tenth Battle of the Isonzo on 12 May 1917, Isonzo, The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War. FirstWorldWar. Com, The Battles of the Isonzo, 1915-17 Battlefield Maps, the Foundation preserves, restores and presents the historical and cultural heritage of the First World War in the area of the Isonzo Front for the study, tourist and educational purposes. The Kobarid Museum Društvo Soška Fronta Pro Hereditate - extensive site

17.
Tenth Battle of the Isonzo
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The Tenth Battle of the Isonzo was an Italian offensive against Austria-Hungary during World War I. For while it was clear that the Austro-Hungarian Army was suffering in what had become a war of attrition, casualties suffered to date were tremendous and with each renewed battle tended to be higher on the Italian attackers side. The UKs new Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, had believed that the war could not be won on the Western Front alone. Consequently, Nivelle dispatched Ferdinand Foch to meet with Cadorna and discuss their possible options, the agreed plan was duly invoked - too late - in late October 1917 in the wake of the Italians disastrous performance at Caporetto in the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo. With the contingency plan arranged the French pressed Cadorna to launch an offensive of his own along the Soča to generally co-ordinate with their own large-scale Aisne Offensive. Cadorna agreed and the tenth Isonzo offensive was launched with an artillery bombardment on 10 May 1917. The Italians, deploying 38 divisions - against only 14 of the Austro-Hungarians - switched tactics once again, the previous three Isonzo battles had seen Cadorna concentrate short, sharp initiatives against closely defined targets, generally aimed at extending their sole bridgehead east of Gorizia. This time the Italians returned to the Kras plateau south-east of Gorizia, the second aim of the offensive was to conquer Mount Škabrijel, thus opening the way to the Vipava Valley. By the close of May the Italian army had advanced to within 15 km of Trieste almost reaching the town of Duino. Some fighting also took place in the sections of the front in the Julian Alps. Casualties continued to be high,157,000 Italian losses were sustained, with morale in the Italian army plunging Cadorna planned one further breakthrough attempt as he massed the greatest number of divisions and artillery yet along the Soča river. Accordingly, the Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo was initiated some two months later on 19 August 1917, Isonzo, The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War. FirstWorldWar. Com, The Battles of the Isonzo, 1915-17 Battlefield Maps, the Foundation preserves, restores and presents the historical and cultural heritage of the First World War in the area of the Isonzo Front for the study, tourist and educational purposes. The Kobarid Museum Društvo Soška Fronta Pro Hereditate - extensive site

18.
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo
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The Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo was a World War I battle fought by the Italian and Austro-Hungarian Armies on the Italian Front between 18 August and 12 September 1917. On the Soča River, Luigi Cadorna, the Italian Chief of Staff, the attack was carried forth from a front from Tolmin to the Adriatic Sea. After fierce and deadly fightings, the Italian Second Army, led by General Capello, pushed back Boroevićs Isonzo Armee, conquering the Bainsizza, other positions were taken by the Duke of Aostas Third Army. However, Mount Saint Gabriel and Mount Hermada turned out to be impregnable, after the battle, the Austro-Hungarians were exhausted, and could not have withstood another attack. Fortunately for them, so were the Italians, who could not find the necessary for another assault. So the final result of the battle was an inconclusive bloodbath, moreover, the end of the battle left the Italian Second Army split in two parts across the Soča, a weak point that proved to be decisive in the subsequent Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo. To commemorate the participation of the Royal Bavarian Infantry Lifeguards Regiment, schindler, John R. Isonzo, The Forgotten Sacrifice of the Great War. Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo FirstWorldWar. Com, The Battles of the Isonzo, 1915-17 Battlefield Maps, the Foundation preserves, restores and presents the historical and cultural heritage of the First World War in the area of the Isonzo Front for the study, tourist and educational purposes. The Kobarid Museum Društvo Soška Fronta Pro Hereditate - extensive site

19.
Battle of Caporetto
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The Battle of Caporetto in 1917, took place from 24 October to 19 November 1917, near the town of Kobarid, on the Austro-Italian front of World War I. The battle was named after the Italian name of the town, Austro-Hungarian forces, reinforced by German units, were able to break into the Italian front line and rout the Italian forces opposing them. The battle was a demonstration of the effectiveness of the use of stormtroopers, the use of poison gas by the Germans also played a key role in the collapse of the Italian Second Army. In August 1917 Paul von Hindenburg decided that to keep the Austro-Hungarians in the war, erich Ludendorff was opposed to this but was overruled. In September three experts from the Imperial General Staff, led by the chemist Otto Hahn, went to the Isonzo front to find a suitable for a gas attack. They proposed attacking the quiet Caporetto sector, where a road ran west through a mountain valley to the Venetian plain. The Austro-Hungarian Army Group Boroević, commanded by Svetozar Boroević, was prepared for the offensive, in addition, a new 14th Army was formed with nine Austrian and six German divisions, commanded by the German Otto von Below. The Italians inadvertently helped by providing weather information over their radio, foul weather delayed the attack for two days but on 24 October there was no wind and the front was misted over. Knowing that their gas masks could protect them only for two hours or less, the defenders fled for their lives, though 500–600 were still killed, then the front was quiet until 06,00 when all the Italian wire and trenches to be attacked were bombarded by mortars. At 06,41,2,200 guns opened fire, at 08,00 two large mines were detonated under strong points on the heights bordering the valley and the infantry attacked. Soon they penetrated the almost undefended Italian fortifications in the valley and they made good use of the new German model 08/15 Maxim light machine gun, light trench mortars, mountain guns, flamethrowers and hand grenades. The attackers in the valley marched almost unopposed along the excellent road toward Italy, the Italian army beat back the attackers on either side of the sector where the central column attacked, but Belows successful central penetration threw the entire Italian army into disarray. Forces had to be moved along the Italian front in an attempt to stem von Belows breakout, at this point, the entire Italian position was threatened. The Italian 2nd Army commander Luigi Capello was commanding while bedridden with fever, realizing that his forces were ill-prepared for this attack and were being routed, Capello requested permission to withdraw back to the Tagliamento. He was overruled by Cadorna who believed that the Italian force could regroup, finally, on 30 October 1917, Cadorna ordered the majority of the Italian force to retreat to the other side of the Tagliamento. It took the Italians four full days to cross the river, by 2 November, a German division had established a bridgehead on the Tagliamento. About this time, however, the success of the attack caught up with them. The German and Austro-Hungarian supply lines were stretched to breaking point, even before the battle, Germany was struggling to feed and supply its armies in the field

20.
Battle of Monte Grappa
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The first of these battles became the most famous as it brought the Austrian summer offensive of 1917 to a halt. The Italian Chief of the general staff general Luigi Cadorna had ordered to construct fortified defenses on the Monte Grappa summit to make the mountain an impregnable fortress. Thus, the Italian front along the Piave river was stabilized and, although the Austrians could see Venice from their positions, they would never reach it. The second battle of Monte Grappa was part of the wider Austrian summer offensive of 1918, which was the last offensive operation of the Austro–Hungarian Army in World War I. The third battle of Monte Grappa started on October 24,1918, as part of the final Italian offensive of the war, the Austrians answered by increasing their forces on the mountain from 9 to 15 divisions and thus committing all remaining reserves. But the worn down Austrian Army began a retreat on October 28. Monte Grappa setting appears in Battlefield 1 as a multiplayer map, the map is set during the final Italian offensive in the Third Battle of Monte Grappa. It appears in the operation Iron Walls, Monte Grappa First Battle of Monte Grappa Monte Grappa

21.
Battle of San Matteo
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The Battle of San Matteo took place in the late summer of 1918 on the Punta San Matteo during World War I. It was regarded as the highest battle in history until it was surpassed in 1999 by the Kargil Conflict at 5600m, at the beginning of 1918 Austro-Hungarian troops set up a fortified position with small artillery pieces on the top of the San Matteo Peak. The base of the lies at 2800m altitude and it takes a four-hour ice climb up a glacier to reach the top. From this position, they were able to shell the road to the Gavia Pass, on August 13,1918, a small group of Italian Alpini conducted a surprise attack on the peak, successfully taking the fortified position. Half of the Austro-Hungarian soldiers were taken prisoner, the other fled to lower positions. On September 3,1918 the Austro-Hungarian forces launched operation Gemse, the Italians, who already considered the mountain lost, began a counter-bombardment of the fortified positions, causing many victims among both the defending Italian and the Austro-Hungarian troops. The Austro-Hungarians lost 17 men in the battle and the Italians 10, the counterattack would be the last Austro-Hungarian victory in World War I. The Armistice of Villa Giusti, concluded on November 3,1918 at 15,00 at Villa Giusti ended the Alpine War in these mountains on November 4,1918 at 1500 h. In the summer of 2004, the bodies of three Kaiserschützen were found at 3400m, near the peak. Kaiserschützen Arnaldo Berni Georg Bönisch Die toten Augen im Berg Der Spiegel 30 March 2004

22.
Battle of Vittorio Veneto
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The Battle of Vittorio Veneto was fought from 24 October to 3 November 1918 near Vittorio Veneto on the Italian Front during World War I. The Italian victory marked the end of the war on the Italian Front, secured the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, some Italian authors see Vittorio Veneto as the final culmination of the Risorgimento nationalist movement, in which Italy was unified. Diaz reorganized the troops, blocked the advance by implementing defense in depth and mobile reserves. In June 1918, a large Austro-Hungarian offensive, aimed at breaking the Piave River defensive line and delivering a decisive blow to the Italian Army, was launched. The whole offensive, the Battle of the Piave River, came to worse than nothing, Allied forces totaled 57 infantry divisions, including 51 Italian,3 British,2 French,1 Czechoslovak and the 332nd US Infantry Regiment, along with supporting arms. The Austro-Hungarian army was equal in strength with 61 infantry divisions, the Italian armies in the mountains were merely to hold the front line and follow up the enemy when he retreated. The task of opening the attack and taking on the strongest positions fell to Fourth Army on the Grappa, lord Cavans army consisted of two British and two Italian divisions and they too were expected to cross the Piave by breaking the Austrian defenses at Papadopoli Island. Third Army was simply to hold the lower Piave and cross the river when enemy resistance was broken, ninth Army, which contained the Czechoslovak Division and the 332nd US Infantry Regiment as well two Italian divisions, was held in reserve. The Allies had 600 aircraft to gain air superiority in the final offensive. The Allies, 7th Italian Army, between the Stelvio and the shore of Lake Garda. 2 Army corps 1st Italian Army, from the west bank of the Lake Garda to the Val dAstico,3 Army corps 6th Italian Army, from the plateau of Asiago to the left bank of the Brenta. 3 Army corps 4th Italian Army, Monte Grappa to Cima Palon,3 army corps 4 assault groups 1 regiment of cavalry. 12th Franco-Italian Army, from Monte Tomba up to the bridges of Vidor on the Piave,1 Italian Army corps 12th French Army Corps. 8th Italian Army, along the Piave, from Vidor to Priula Bridge,4 Army corps The assault corps of General Francesco Saverio Grazioli. 10th British-Italian Army along the Piave from Ponte Priula to Ponte di Piave,1 Italian Army corps 2 divisions of the 14th British Corps of the British General James Melville Babington. 3rd Italian Army, from Ponte di Piave to the sea,2 Army Corps 2 assault units 3 cavalry regiments 332nd_Infantry_Regiment_ 9th Italian Army, in reserve. The plan was for the British 7th Division to occupy the northern half of Papadopoli while the Italian 11th Corps took the southern half, the British troops detailed for the night attack were the 2/1 Honourable Artillery Company and the 1/ Royal Welch Fusiliers. These troops were helpless to negotiate such a torrent as the Piave, for the sake of silence the HAC used only their bayonets until the alarm was raised, and soon seized their half of the island

23.
Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946)
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The state was founded as a result of the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered its legal predecessor state. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia in 1866, Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power. Italy entered into a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882, victory in the war gave Italy a permanent seat in the Council of the League of Nations. Fascist Italy is the era of National Fascist Party rule from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as head of government, according to Payne, Fascist regime passed through several relatively distinct phases. The first phase was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, then came the second phase, the construction of the Fascist dictatorship proper from 1925 to 1929. The third phase, with activism, was 1929–34. The war itself was the phase with its disasters and defeats. Italy was allied with Nazi Germany in World War II until 1943 and it switched sides to the Allies after ousting Mussolini and shutting down the Fascist party in areas controlled by the Allied invaders. Shortly after the war, civil discontent led to the referendum of 1946 on whether Italy would remain a monarchy or become a republic. Italians decided to abandon the monarchy and form the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of Italy claimed all of the territory which is modern-day Italy. The development of the Kingdoms territory progressed under Italian re-unification until 1870, the state for a long period of time did not include Trieste or Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which are in Italy today, and only annexed them in 1919. After the Second World War, the borders of present-day Italy were founded, the Kingdom of Italy was theoretically a constitutional monarchy. Executive power belonged to the monarch, as executed through appointed ministers, two chambers of parliament restricted the monarchs power—an appointive Senate and an elective Chamber of Deputies. The kingdoms constitution was the Statuto Albertino, the governing document of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In theory, ministers were responsible to the king. However, in practice, it was impossible for an Italian government to stay in office without the support of Parliament, members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected by plurality voting system elections in uninominal districts. A candidate needed the support of 50% of those voting, and of 25% of all enrolled voters, if not all seats were filled on the first ballot, a runoff was held shortly afterwards for the remaining vacancies. After a brief multinominal experimentation in 1882, proportional representation into large, regional, Socialists became the major party, but they were unable to form a government in a parliament split into three different factions, with Christian Populists and classical liberals

24.
Asiago
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Asiago is the name of both a major Italian PDO cheese and a minor township in the surrounding plateau region in the Province of Vicenza in the Veneto region of Northeastern Italy. The Asiago region is the origin of Asiago cheese, the town was the site of a major battle between Austrian and Italian forces on the Alpine Front of World War I. It is a ski resort destination as well as the site of the Astrophysical Observatory of Asiago. Until the middle of the century many of the people of Asiago spoke Cimbrian. Asiago is the birthplace of author Mario Rigoni Stern, and features prominently in his stories and it is also described in Emilio Lussus A Year on the Altopiano. The Battle of Asiago was a counter-offensive launched by the Austro-Hungarians on the Italian Front in May 1916 and it was an unexpected attack that took place near Asiago. Commemorating this battle and the soldiers of World War I is the Asiago War Memorial. In a later engagement in 1918, Edward Brittain, brother of Vera Brittain, was killed and was buried in the Granezza British military cemetery on the plateau, in 1970 Veras ashes were scattered on his grave. The city is home to HC Asiago, an ice hockey team currently playing in the countrys top division. The Asiago Vipers, also based in Asiago, are an inline hockey team. The team plays in the highest Italian inline league, aldo Stella, ski mountaineer and cross-country skier. Enrico Fabris, long track speed skater who has won three World Cup races, lucio Topatigh, Italian ice hockey legend. Ivan Lunardi, one of the best Italian ski jumpers in history, official site Asiago plateau Asiago7Comuni news and general information General information Battle of Asiago Astrophysical Observatory of Asiago Asiago on The Campanile Project

25.
Cadore
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Cadore is a historical region in the Italian region of Veneto, in the northernmost part of the province of Belluno bordering on Austria, the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is watered by the Piave River which has its source in the Carnic Alps, once an undeveloped and poor district, the former contado of Cadore now has a thriving economy based on tourism and a small manufacturing industry, specialising in the production of glasses. In the Late Antiquity era, Cadore was occupied by invading Germanic populations and was first declared part of the Duchy of Carinthia and finally, in 1077, part of the Patriarchate of Aquileia. From 1135 to 1335, Cadore was ruled by the da Camino family, the Counts of Cadore and it was briefly annexed to Tyrol and again was ceded to the Patriarchs of Aquileia. However, the comuni of Cadore always enjoyed a degree of self-government. It declared its loyalty to the former, becoming one of many parts of the Terra ferma, the conflict between Venice and the Empire broke out again at the beginning of the 16th century, during the War of the League of Cambrai. The Venetians and the Cadorines defeated Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1508 at the Battle of Valle di Cadore, then, in 1511, Maximilian conquered the town of Cortina dAmpezzo, which was once and for all assigned to the Empire in 1516. Cortina, formerly considered part of Cadore, has developed a distinct identity. Cadore remained part of the Venetian Republic until the Napoleonic War, a famous Venetian incumbent of the local post of Commisario del Cadore was Paolo Paruta. Napoleon I Bonaparte created a duché grand-fief, a rare, hereditary but nominal honor of ducal rank for his minister, during the First World War, Cadore was on the Alpine Front and was the scene of many battles. The celebrated Renaissance painter Titian was born in Cadore in 1477, one of a family of four born to Gregorio Vecelli, the painters birthplace in Pieve di Cadore, in a locality named Arsenale between the castle and the village Sotto Castello, is open to visitors. Titians wife, Cecilia, was born in Cadore, the daughter of a barber. Cadore is generally subdivided into Comelico, Sappada, Central Cadore and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles, ed. article name needed. Storia del Cadore Heraldica. org Napoleonic heraldry Cadore web portal Old postcards from Tai di Cadore

26.
Carnia
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Carnia is a historical-geographic region in the northeastern Italian area of Friuli. Its 28 municipalities all belong to the Province of Udine, which itself is part of the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, starting from 400 BC, the demographic growth and the pressure of the Germanic peoples, originated a migratory flood towards the south. The Carni crossed the Alps via the Plöcken Pass and settled in the region which is nowadays named Carnia, during the hard winters the herders used to move with their cattle down to the piedmont plains. Also they were iron and wood manufacturers. The Carni were headed by a king and a caste of druids. The new settlement was named Aquileia, after the former Celtic name Akileja, the triumvirs that founded that settlement were Publius Scipio Nasica, Caius Flaminius and Lucius Manlius Acidinus. In order to stem the Roman expansion and to acquire the fertile and more hospitable plains, the Carni tried to form alliances with the Histrian, the Iapode, and the Taurisci Celts. Later on, the Carni, characterised by a docile temper, the mixing of the two languages would give rise to the Friulian language. In the mean time Aquileia enlarged its importance and it became a Municipium Romanum in 90 BC, it was an important commercial and hand-craft production centre. Also it was the port on the Adriatic sea and a garrison settlemnent. With adjacent Carantania, Carnia was conquered by Frankish forces in the 774 campaign of Charlemagne. In the 843 Treaty of Verdun, the south of the main chain of the Carnic Alps was attributed to the realm of Emperor Lothair I, it was inherited by his eldest son. In 951 Berengars grandson King Berengar II of Italy had to lay down arms against the forces of King Otto I of Germany. At the 952 Imperial Diet of Augsburg, he had to himself an East Frankish vassal. In 976 it became part of the newly established Duchy of Carinthia, as the patriarchate was gradually conquered by the Republic of Venice, Carnia had passed from the Holy Roman Empire to the Venetian Domini di Terraferma by 1420. Nevertheless, Friulian, a Rhaeto-Romance language, is widely spoken, the German Southern Bavarian dialect is spoken in the linguistic enclaves of Sauris and Paluzza-Timau, as in the neighbouring regions of Veneto and Trentino. oh noci della Carnia addio. Erra tra i vostri rami il pensier mio sognando lombre dun tempo che fu. oh walnuts of Carnia and my thought is roaming through your branches, Dreaming of the shadows of the time that was. Carnia is located south of the chain of the Carnic Alps, in the northwest of the Udine province, it is bounded to the north by Austria

27.
Artillery
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Artillery is a class of large military weapons built to fire munitions far beyond the range and power of infantrys small arms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach fortifications, and led to heavy, as technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery developed for battlefield use. This development continues today, modern self-propelled artillery vehicles are highly mobile weapons of great versatility providing the largest share of an armys total firepower, in its earliest sense, the word artillery referred to any group of soldiers primarily armed with some form of manufactured weapon or armour. In common speech, the artillery is often used to refer to individual devices, along with their accessories and fittings. However, there is no generally recognised generic term for a gun, howitzer, mortar, and so forth, the United States uses artillery piece, the projectiles fired are typically either shot or shell. Shell is a widely used term for a projectile, which is a component of munitions. By association, artillery may also refer to the arm of service that customarily operates such engines, in the 20th Century technology based target acquisition devices, such as radar, and systems, such as sound ranging and flash spotting, emerged to acquire targets, primarily for artillery. These are usually operated by one or more of the artillery arms, Artillery originated for use against ground targets—against infantry, cavalry and other artillery. An early specialist development was coastal artillery for use against enemy ships, the early 20th Century saw the development of a new class of artillery for use against aircraft, anti-aircraft guns. Artillery is arguably the most lethal form of land-based armament currently employed, the majority of combat deaths in the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II were caused by artillery. In 1944, Joseph Stalin said in a speech that artillery was the God of War, although not called as such, machines performing the role recognizable as artillery have been employed in warfare since antiquity. The first references in the historical tradition begin at Syracuse in 399 BC. From the Middle Ages through most of the era, artillery pieces on land were moved by horse-drawn gun carriages. In the contemporary era, the artillery and crew rely on wheeled or tracked vehicles as transportation, Artillery used by naval forces has changed significantly also, with missiles replacing guns in surface warfare. The engineering designs of the means of delivery have likewise changed significantly over time, in some armies, the weapon of artillery is the projectile, not the equipment that fires it. The process of delivering fire onto the target is called gunnery, the actions involved in operating the piece are collectively called serving the gun by the detachment or gun crew, constituting either direct or indirect artillery fire. The term gunner is used in armed forces for the soldiers and sailors with the primary function of using artillery. The gunners and their guns are usually grouped in teams called either crews or detachments, several such crews and teams with other functions are combined into a unit of artillery, usually called a battery, although sometimes called a company

28.
Alpini
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The Alpini, are an elite mountain warfare military corps of the Italian Army. They are currently organized in two brigades, which are subordinated to the Alpine Troops Headquarters. Established in 1872, the Alpini are the oldest active mountain infantry in the world and their original mission was to protect Italys northern mountain border with France and Austria. In 1888 the Alpini deployed on their first mission abroad, in Africa, during World War II, the Alpini fought alongside the Axis forces, mainly across the Eastern Front and in the Balkans Campaigns. After the end of the Cold War, the Italian Army was reorganised in the 1990s, three out of five Alpini brigades and many support units were disbanded. Currently, the Alpini are deployed in Afghanistan, in 1872, Captain Giuseppe Perrucchetti published a study in the May edition of the Military Review. In the study, he proposed to assign the defence of mountain borders of the recently established Kingdom of Italy to soldiers recruited locally, indeed, thanks to their knowledge of the surroundings and personal attachment to the area, they would be highly capable and better motivated defenders. Perrucchetti drew heavily on the work of Lieutenant General Agostino Ricci, five months after Perrucchettis article, the first 15 Alpini companies were formed by Royal decree no.1056. The units became active on October 15,1872, making the Alpini the oldest active Mountain Infantry in the world, at first the Alpini were organized as a militia, capable of defending Italy’s northern mountainous borders. Austrias surrender in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 resulted in Italy annexing the province of Venetia, prior to gaining the new northern borders, homeland defence was based on the so-called Quadrilatero strategy. That outdated strategy, however, ignored the geopolitics of the new Italian Kingdom and it called for primary defence of the Po Valley region farther to the southwest, but left the Alpine region undefended. Recruiting Italys mountain valleys locals and organising them into a corps was indeed an innovative idea. They possessed superior knowledge of mountain territory and greatest adaptability to Alpine conditions, at the beginning, the mountain regions were divided into seven military districts, each commanded by an Officer and home to at least two Alpini companies, each consisting of 120 personnel. Soldiers were equipped with the Vetterli 1870 rifle, in 1873 nine more companies were added, thus totalling 24. In 1875, the companies doubled in size, having 250 soldiers and 5 officers, on November 1,1882, the Alpini organisation doubled in size to 72 companies and a total of 20 Alpini battalions. The latter plus 8 Alpini mountain artillery batteries were now organized into six numbered Alpini regiments, Special Bn. and Fourth Bn. were issued blue tufts. Soldiers of the Mountain Artillery units were issued a green tuft with a patch in the middle onto which the number of the battery was written in golden numbers. On June 7,1883, the green flames collar patch was introduced, the Cappello Alpino, with its black raven feather, was also introduced at that time

29.
Asiago War Memorial
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The Asiago War Memorial is a World War I memorial located in the town of Asiago in the Province of Vicenza in the Veneto region of northeast Italy. In Italian the memorial is typically called Sacrario Militare di Asiago or Sacrario Militare del Leiten, Leiten is the name of the hill on which the memorial sits. Asiago was one of the most symbolic locations of the Great War, after the war, Asiago was selected to house one of the largest Italian World War I memorials. Venetian architect Orfeo Rossato designed the monument, using one giant block of locally-mined white marble of 80 square meters for the base, sculptors Montini and Zanetti also contributed to the work. The memorial was completed in 1938, with a ceremony held on 17 July. Benito Mussolini presided over the ceremony, and King Victor Emmanuel III was also present, the memorial is on Leiten Hill a few hundred meters from the center of Asiago. Connecting the memorial with the city center is Via degli Eroi, the exterior consists of the square base, on top of which is a terrace with the arch in the middle and an altar located at the center of the arch. The bases sides are each 80 meters long, and two 35-meter staircases lead up to the terrace, the Roman arch is quadrifrons, meaning four-faced with four arches. With its hilltop location and a height of 47 meters, the arch is visible throughout the Asiago plateau. This arch, along with the memorials of Pasubio, Cimone, on the parapet of the terrace are arrows indicating the names of surrounding mountains and important battle sites. Around the entire memorial are original cannons that have been restored, the interior contains the crypt and an octagonal chapel in the center. The crypt is therefore beneath the terrace, and its perimetrical and axial corridors intersect to create the area where the chapel. Also set in the chapel are the remains of twelve Italian Gold Medals of Military Valor, along the walls of the corridors are burial niches holding the remains of 33,086 fallen Italian soldiers, whose bodies were exhumed from 35 nearby war cemeteries between 1935 and 1938. The identified remains are in individual niches in alphabetical order. Of the Italians buried in this memorial,12,795 are known and 20,291 are unknown. Some years later the remains of 18,505 Austro-Hungarian soldiers,12,355 of which are unidentified, were gathered from surrounding war cemeteries. Near the entrance to the crypt is a museum containing many relics gathered from the fields of the Asiago plateau, as well as related documents. The museum has a plastic model relief map of the Asiago plateau providing a depiction of the events that unfolded there

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International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker

Italian Front (World War I)
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The Italian Front was a series of battles at the border between Austria-Hungary and Italy, fought between 1915 and 1918 in World War I. Fighting along the front displaced much of the population, of which several thousand died from malnutrition. The Allied victory at Vittorio Veneto and the disintegration of Austria-Hungary ended the military operat

2.
The Italian Front in 1915–1917: eleven Battles of the Isonzo and Asiago offensive. In blue, initial Italian conquests

3.
Italian Alpini troops; 1915

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The Austro-Hungarian supply line over the Vršič pass, October 1917

First World War
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts i

1.
Clockwise from the top: The aftermath of shelling during the Battle of the Somme, Mark V tanks cross the Hindenburg Line, HMS Irresistible sinks after hitting a mine in the Dardanelles, a British Vickers machine gun crew wears gas masks during the Battle of the Somme, Albatros D.III fighters of Jagdstaffel 11

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Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the Austrian annexation in 1908.

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This picture is usually associated with the arrest of Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.

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Serbian Army Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915.

Trentino
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Trentino, officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the countrys far north. Trentino is, along with South Tyrol, one of the two provinces making up the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which is designated a region under the constitution. The province is divided into 178 comuni and its capital is the

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Buonconsiglio Castle in Trent was the seat of the prince-bishops from the 13th century to 1803.

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Map highlighting the location of the province of Trentino in Italy

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The Marmolada in the northeast is the highest mountain of the Dolomites

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A view of Lake Garda from Riva del Garda in the south. Tourism is one of the main factors of the Trentine econonmy.

Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is refe

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The Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of architecture and engineering of ancient history.

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Flag

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The Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the Kings of Italy.

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Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor Frederick II, UNESCO World Heritage site

Kingdom of Italy
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The state was founded as a result of the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered its legal predecessor state. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia in 1866, Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power. Italy entered into a Trip

Austria-Hungary
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The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867. Austria-Hungary consisted of two monarchies, and one region, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown. It was ruled by the House of Habsburg, and constituted the last phase in the evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following

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Franz Joseph I. (1885)

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Civil Ensign

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Austrian Parliament Building

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Hungarian Parliament Building

Luigi Cadorna
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Marshal of Italy Luigi Cadorna, OSML, OMS, OCI was an Italian General and Marshal of Italy, most famous for being the Chief of Staff of the Italian Army during the first part of World War I. Luigi Cadorna was born to General Raffaele Cadorna in Verbania Pallanza, in 1860 Cardona became a student at the Teuliè Military School in Milan. At fifteen he

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General Luigi Cadorna

Arthur Arz von Straussenburg
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Generaloberst Arthur Freiherr Arz von Straußenburg was an Austro-Hungarian Colonel General and last Chief of the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army. At the outbreak of the First World War, he commanded the 15th Infantry Division, soon, he was promoted to the head of the 6th Corps and the First Army. He participated on the Gorlice–Tarnów Off

Viktor Graf von Scheuchenstuel
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Viktor Graf von Scheuchenstuel was a Colonel General in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He was a staff officer and division commander until World War I broke out. During World War I he was a Corps and Army commander serving in Serbia, Albania, during World War I he was promoted to Graf in the Austrian nobility. Following the end of World War I and the e

First Battle of the Isonzo
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The First Battle of the Isonzo was fought between the Armies of Italy and Austria-Hungary on the Italian Front in World War I, between 23 June and 7 July 1915. The aim of the Italian Army was to drive the Austrians away from its positions along the Soča. Although the Italians enjoyed a 2,1 numeric superiority, their offensive failed because the Ita

1.
Eleven Battles of the Isonzo June 1915 — September 1917

2.
Solkan (left) and the Soča (Isonzo)

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Austro-Hungarian trench at the Soča (Isonzo)

Second Battle of the Isonzo
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The Second Battle of the Isonzo was fought between the armies of the Kingdom of Italy and of Austria-Hungary in the Italian Front in World War I, between 18 July and 3 August 1915. The major role was assigned to the Duke of Savoys Third Army, the insufficiency of war material – from rifles, to artillery shells to shears to cut the barbed wire – nul

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Eleven Battles of the Isonzo June 1915 – September 1917

Third Battle of the Isonzo
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The Third Battle of the Isonzo was fought from 18 October through 3 November 1915 between the armies of Italy and Austria-Hungary. The main objectives were to take the Austro-Hungarian bridgeheads at Bovec and Tolmin, cadornas tactic, of deploying his forces evenly along the entire Soča, proved indecisive. The Austro-Hungarians took advantage of th

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Eleven Battles of the Isonzo June 1915 — September 1917

Fourth Battle of the Isonzo
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The Fourth Battle of the Isonzo was fought between the armies of Kingdom of Italy and those of Austria-Hungary on the Italian Front in World War I, between November 10 and December 2,1915. In contrast to the other three Battles of the Isonzo, this lasted a short amount of time, and is sometimes considered a continuation of the previous offensive. M

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Eleven Battles of the Isonzo June 1915 — September 1917

Fifth Battle of the Isonzo
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The Fifth Battle of the Isonzo was fought from March 9–15,1916 between the armies of the Kingdom of Italy and those of Austria-Hungary. The Italians, under pressure from the French commanders, had decided to launch another offensive on the Soča River. The attack was a result of the allied Chantilly Conference of December 1915, the attacks ordered b

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Eleven Battles of the Isonzo June 1915 – September 1917

Battle of Asiago
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It was an unexpected attack that took place near Asiago in the province of Vicenza after the Fifth Battle of the Isonzo. Commemorating this battle and the killed in World War I is the Asiago War Memorial. His request was denied because Germany was not yet at war with Italy, the 11th Austro-Hungarian Army, under the command of Count Viktor Dankl, wo

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The remaining alpine vegetation after the attack on Asiago.

Ninth Battle of the Isonzo
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The Ninth Battle of the Isonzo was an Italian offensive against Austria-Hungary in the course World War I. The battle started with an attack on Vrtojba and the northern, with the ninth battle fought from 1–4 November 1916 the combined casualty total from the three linked battles proved sufficiently heavy to ensure that each attack was of short dura

1.
Eleven Battles of the Isonzo June 1915 — September 1917

Tenth Battle of the Isonzo
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The Tenth Battle of the Isonzo was an Italian offensive against Austria-Hungary during World War I. For while it was clear that the Austro-Hungarian Army was suffering in what had become a war of attrition, casualties suffered to date were tremendous and with each renewed battle tended to be higher on the Italian attackers side. The UKs new Prime M

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Eleven Battles of the Isonzo June 1915 – September 1917

Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo
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The Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo was a World War I battle fought by the Italian and Austro-Hungarian Armies on the Italian Front between 18 August and 12 September 1917. On the Soča River, Luigi Cadorna, the Italian Chief of Staff, the attack was carried forth from a front from Tolmin to the Adriatic Sea. After fierce and deadly fightings, the Ita

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Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo

Battle of Caporetto
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The Battle of Caporetto in 1917, took place from 24 October to 19 November 1917, near the town of Kobarid, on the Austro-Italian front of World War I. The battle was named after the Italian name of the town, Austro-Hungarian forces, reinforced by German units, were able to break into the Italian front line and rout the Italian forces opposing them.

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Battle of Caporetto and Italian retreat.

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The Isonzo river, location of the initial attacks at Kobarid (Caporetto).

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German assault troops at Caporetto.

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Marshal Luigi Cadorna

Battle of Monte Grappa
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The first of these battles became the most famous as it brought the Austrian summer offensive of 1917 to a halt. The Italian Chief of the general staff general Luigi Cadorna had ordered to construct fortified defenses on the Monte Grappa summit to make the mountain an impregnable fortress. Thus, the Italian front along the Piave river was stabilize

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View from the summit towards the Austrian positions

Battle of San Matteo
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The Battle of San Matteo took place in the late summer of 1918 on the Punta San Matteo during World War I. It was regarded as the highest battle in history until it was surpassed in 1999 by the Kargil Conflict at 5600m, at the beginning of 1918 Austro-Hungarian troops set up a fortified position with small artillery pieces on the top of the San Mat

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Italian monument dedicated to the victims of the battle, on the way to the Gavia Pass

Battle of Vittorio Veneto
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The Battle of Vittorio Veneto was fought from 24 October to 3 November 1918 near Vittorio Veneto on the Italian Front during World War I. The Italian victory marked the end of the war on the Italian Front, secured the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, some Italian authors see Vittorio Veneto as the final culmination of the Risorgimento na

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Battle of Vittorio Veneto

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Postage stamp, Italy, 1921

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American troops of the 332nd Infantry Regiment advance through Grave di Papadopoli during the latter stages of the offensive on the afternoon of October 31, 1918

Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946)
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The state was founded as a result of the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered its legal predecessor state. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia in 1866, Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power. Italy entered into a Trip

Asiago
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Asiago is the name of both a major Italian PDO cheese and a minor township in the surrounding plateau region in the Province of Vicenza in the Veneto region of Northeastern Italy. The Asiago region is the origin of Asiago cheese, the town was the site of a major battle between Austrian and Italian forces on the Alpine Front of World War I. It is a

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Asiago Slege

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Asiago in ruins, 1918.

Cadore
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Cadore is a historical region in the Italian region of Veneto, in the northernmost part of the province of Belluno bordering on Austria, the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is watered by the Piave River which has its source in the Carnic Alps, once an undeveloped and poor district, the former contado of Cadore now has a t

Carnia
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Carnia is a historical-geographic region in the northeastern Italian area of Friuli. Its 28 municipalities all belong to the Province of Udine, which itself is part of the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, starting from 400 BC, the demographic growth and the pressure of the Germanic peoples, originated a migratory flood towards the south. Th

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Monte Bìvera near Sauris

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Settlement area of the Carni in Roman Cisalpine Gaul

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Volaia Lake

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Forni Avoltri View

Artillery
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Artillery is a class of large military weapons built to fire munitions far beyond the range and power of infantrys small arms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach fortifications, and led to heavy, as technology improved, lighter, more mobile field artillery developed for battlefield use. This development continues today, mo

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French naval piece of the late 19th century

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French soldiers in the Franco-Prussian War 1870–71.

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British 64 Pounder Rifled Muzzle-Loaded (RML) Gun on a Moncrieff disappearing mount, at Scaur Hill Fort, Bermuda. This is a part of a fixed battery, meant to protect against over-land attack and to serve as coastal artillery.

Alpini
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The Alpini, are an elite mountain warfare military corps of the Italian Army. They are currently organized in two brigades, which are subordinated to the Alpine Troops Headquarters. Established in 1872, the Alpini are the oldest active mountain infantry in the world and their original mission was to protect Italys northern mountain border with Fran

1.
Alpini of the 7th Alpini Regiment

2.
A Cappello Alpino of a Combat Engineer of the Alpini Corps: with raven feather, amaranth Nappina, (tuft) and the coat of the 2° Engineer Regiment.

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A pair of Fiamme Verdi collar patches

4.
Celestino Ellero, World War I. He wears the 1st issue Italian Gas mask container strapped over his right shoulder. ca. 1916.

Asiago War Memorial
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The Asiago War Memorial is a World War I memorial located in the town of Asiago in the Province of Vicenza in the Veneto region of northeast Italy. In Italian the memorial is typically called Sacrario Militare di Asiago or Sacrario Militare del Leiten, Leiten is the name of the hill on which the memorial sits. Asiago was one of the most symbolic lo

1.
Asiago War Memorial

2.
Alpine War 1915-1918 Monument in Asiago

International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning

1.
A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an EAN-13 bar code